About Elmhurst College

Mission, Vision & Core Values

Mission Elmhurst College inspires its students to form themselves intellectually and personally and to prepare for meaningful and ethical work in a multicultural, global society. Working together with passion and commitment, we foster learning, broaden knowledge and enrich culture through pedagogical innovation, scholarship and creative expression.

Vision for the Future Elmhurst College will become nationally recognized for the Elmhurst Experience: a contemporary framing of liberal learning that, first, empowers and asks our students to become self-directed, academically grounded, intellectually engaged and socially responsible citizens, who understand and respect the diversity of the world’s cultures and peoples, and, second, prepares our students from their first day on campus to make wise academic and co-curricular choices leading to satisfying professional futures. The hallmarks of the Elmhurst Experience—student self-formation and early professional preparation—will prepare our students to become truly educated women and men, ready for life in a complex and competitive world.

The College will increase support for faculty and student research. Our faculty and students will increasingly collaborate with each other and with communities beyond our campus in research, teaching and artistic expression.

The College will offer select graduate programs which complement our undergraduate programs and prepare students for career entry or advancement, or for further study toward an advanced degree.

Core Values The values of Elmhurst College provide the foundation for all our academic, student and community programs and activities.

Intellectual Excellence We value intellectual freedom, curiosity, and engagement; critical and creative inquiry; rigorous debate; and intellectual integrity in all endeavors. We are committed to the meaningful integration of liberal learning and professional preparation and to learning as a life-long pursuit.

Community We are committed to cultural diversity, mutual respect among all persons, compassion for others, honest and open communication and fairness and integrity in all that we do.

Social Responsibility Mindful of humanity’s interdependence and the dignity of every individual, we are committed to social justice on local, national and global levels. We will act on our social responsibilities and call others to do the same.

Stewardship We are committed stewards of the human, fiscal and physical resources entrusted to us. We are accountable to one another for the quality of our community, the strength of our finances and the utility and beauty of our campus as a place of intellectual engagement and personal growth. We pursue innovations which respect the environment and foster sustainability in the management of our resources.

Faith, Meaning and Values We value the development of the human spirit in its many forms and the exploration of life’s ultimate questions through dialogue and service. We value religious freedom and its expressions on campus. Grounded in our own commitments and traditions as well as those of the United Church of Christ, we cherish values that create lives of intellectual excellence, strong community, social responsibility and committed stewardship.